Reversible hydraulic well-digging machine.



M. N. LA TTA.

REVERSIBLE HYDRAULIC WELL DIGGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 5.19I8.

1 ,274, 903 Patented Aug. 6, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET I- WITNESSES //III/I///////////ll/II/IIIII/lIIII///I/lf/ A "ORA/E78 I M. N. LATTA. REVERSIBLE HYDRAULIC WELL DIGGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 5. I918- Patented Aug. 6, 1918 INVENKTOR jflattaz.

ATTORNEYS A 2 SHEETSS HEET 2.

WITNESSES f5 @JMi- A whichgravel c os illates therein.

UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

m'rox n. term, or vemn'rmn, Harman. 1

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that II,'MILTON1 N. L: \'1'1A, a citizen of the United States, and resident: V of Valentine, in the county of Cherry and State of Nebraska,- have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Hydraulic Well-Digging Machines, of which I the following is a specification. My invention relates to improvements m" well digging apparatusand 1s more partwularly an Improvement in the means for-* crel gtmg a continuous suction 1n the dl'lll tu... An object of my invention is to provide a well d1 ging apparatus including an automatical y operating. plunger arranged, to act when the cranks pass the dead centers at which time there is a tendency toward a break in the continuity of the fluid stream,-to create an auxiliary suction in thepipe and prevent the break in the fluid stream.

Anotherobject of the inventionistorovide a well digging apparatuses descri (1, arranged to be reversi e with respect to the introduction of the fluid into the drill tube or the bore of the well.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a. well drilling apparatus, a pump.

cylinder having a plunger controlling an oscillating column of water, the plunger havin means forpermitting the escape of air bu bios to the atmosphere. and permit. ting sufiicient water to escape through-the plungerand form/a -seal; theplunger rod operating throughthe open end of the cylinder and by this arrangement avoiding the necessity of a stufling box. t Other objectsand advantages will appear in the following'specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in Figure 1 is a perspe'ctive view of the invention.

i Fig. 2 is a] section onthe 1ine 2 2 of Fig. 3 is a vertical section of onej of the pump cylinders illustrating how the water Fig. 4- is a detail section of the automatic pump cylinder, and y Fig. 5 is a cross section on the line '55 of'Fig.-4. In carrying-out my invention, I provide a pair of pump cylindersl and 2 which are 4 open at the top, and at the bottom are screwed into Ts 3 and-4 which. provide. supports therefor. Byway of explanation Specification of Letters Patent. Application ma April 5, ms. Sedan-V9. 886,874.,

nnvnasmm nxnmunrc wean-Dreams maxim. 3

in order that the relative sizesof the Y variouscylinders illustrated in Fi 1 may beiflpnown, it may be stated that t e pumpeylinders 1 and 2 are approximately four feet high ders 1- and 2 or in any other suitable location with respect thereto as may beafdeterimined in actual! practice, is the automaticpump cylinder 5-which is equal in height to the pump cylinders -1 and 2 but is from four to six inches in. diameter. I The autOF-ZI;

matic pum T 6 at the ottom.

and-fromjeightto te in h i I .d1aiheter. l p I Located at the-front fth pump cylini 9 are made ample in their pro ortions some what as shown in Fig. 3, so t at there may be no .posslblhty of the parts clogging by an accumulation of gravel or by the passageof an unusually large piece. v

f the fia valves S and 9 is a compamon pair of el ows 10" and 11 which aredirected inwardly and Connected to each palrio are joined with pipe sections 12 and 13.

The pipe sections 12 and 13 have Ts 14 and 15 interposed therein. The-T 14 lies-"in a horizontal plane; and. has a nipple 16 connected thereto, which joins. with the T. .6

at the bottom of theautomatic pump-cylinder. The T 15 stands vertically and has the lower end of'the exhaust pipe 17 connected thereto. 4

Theexhaust pipe 17 reache's to a lane approximately equal to the tops 0 various' cylinders, and there has an elbow towhich another section '18 of the exhaust pipe is connected. The section, 18 extends downwardly and has-alaterally extending pipe 19. which reaches into proximity-with -a water hole H. The reeiprocatig; plun cylinders 1 and .2 draw f j the water out o thewell W;"through the drill tube ,D and discharge it together with the loosened gravel into the holeH. v

At this pointit maybe mentioned that an important feature is',-repre'sented by the 1 arrangement"; just desflibedJ'The accessi- I gers. in the pum 10o the '0 cyl1nder 5 1s supported in a 1 that it may contam.,

Connected with the T6 by means of an other nipple is an elbow tojwhich a 'suction pi e 21 is joined. .A coupling 22"0'01'1 i e 21 with the'fle zible suction lEe suction hoseQ? reachesup and connects to the end of a pipesection 24 "which .in'turn is connected to the upper fend amovable suptprort 7 operation ,ofilli cou ling 25. The pipe 24-is supported by; a.-c ainw26whichis 20 the pipe 24and the drill tube. '5 This neces- I'sitates a support for the pipe 24 which 1 is of .thedrill tube D by means of a swivel 1 pendent from a vsuit' abl'esu'poit,

The Y ction of the for the piple 24.;1jIn the ng the we :the-"tubetD is frequently turned-and there is always a great amount of relative-movement between.

i Y "free to give in any lateral direction; ,In

i the presentinstance the coupling22i is joined to the suction pipe 21 and the [water 1 and;

I gravel is drawn through the .drillltube'pt The cuttings thus move with the sw ftfiuid' 'sides of the well bore, thecoupling 22- is; connected to the end of the discharge; pipeff.

eurrent. Should it be. desired 'to reverse the connectionsso that the watersbe forced into the drill tube and made'to boil over the 1 19 as indicated in dotted lines, and the suc- 1 Before Proceeding ith the description f if thev o i ortant-feature of theauto maucpump cylinder a its-automatically;

tion hole operating lunger 2 7,- attention is 'jifirst' 'rected *to t e operating mechanismn'of'the??? pum cylindersl'and 2.. The plunger-s 28:

int e respective pump cylinders operate .-near' the normally open ends of the. cylinders as illustrated in one instance in Fi 3. These plungers simply reciprocate within an area of about twenty inches inlength and cause the fluid and gravel .column to oscillate in the respective pump cylinders from 'which it isffinally discharged through the pipe 19' with the natural'andT'coiiperat-r ting action ofthe intake. and exhaust flap valves. Each plunger 28 has ail-extremely:

small opening 29 in the bottomfwhich is normally closed b a ball v'alveBO'. "1

you the'down strokeef the plunger;

ermi t unger the hole The functionnof the hole 29 is to :ingly reciprocate plipe 21 is turned into 'thewater inthe' desirable thata certain amount of water accumulate on topof the plunger as illustrated in order to provide a. fluid seal. For

the purpose of preventing an' excessive accumulation of water on top of the plunger, .a drain pipe 31 is tapped into one side of the'jcy inderand this 'pipeleads directly to the ho e H. Were the water permitted to -flow 'over the edge of the uinp cylinder,

the annoying'gresult'fof the lowing ofthe water-hythe'W Qdwould fellow.

Supported on. ;a';, frame 32 is Y a walking through" the open endslof'; the; eylinders.

"This. arrangement avoidsfithe-necessit of the usual stufling-' v boxes which experience a v f has demonstrated:to'be-very'iiieflicientinthis chain 26 isto provide 'particulan connection; fonjfthe reason that there is always --a'j,-great iamouiit' of binding uppertend' butsimply. follows'the reciprocat the-operating connections just describ d and to eliminate the troublesome-shilling box. 1 Jou'rnaledfin the frame "32ffis a shaft 35 which has crankdisks 36 at the ends. Crank rods; fl join the "disks with the walking bea 'ngfland as the disks rotate the walkin beam andjpumpd'plun ers are correspon he- 'shaft' 35 may be driven by any suitable means, a sprocket 38 being shownfon-the shaft, to which a chainfromt-gan othersprocket on anengine shaft "sys'temis' t es-greatest when the wrist pins Tters. fiiBut -=when the wristj' pins pass over the "dead'centera'there-is a tendency toward a lagging of the force of the suction which the automatically. operating plunger. 27. cor

Reference is now directed to Figs. 1 and 4.

The pum cylinder 5 is flared at the top to.

form a unnel 39 and the pipe. has a few heavy threads on the inside at the base of "thefunnel.- A perforatedrin 40 is screwed into the threaded part and t e ring has a square hole 41' in which the square plunger rod 42iop'erates. The rod .42 has -'a handle 43 at the top by means of which and through the medium of the square r0d,..thering 40 plunger 27 can be taken out"; to pour water into the funnel and "prime-fthe various cylbetween a collar 44- on the rod of such a tension that it'fcompresses by a was e pen in he cylinder lied; The. suction in the pipe in plungers,- makes it"p'ossible to employ I r 1 of the crank-rodspass betweengthe dead cenmay 'be'unscrewed .so that the automatic 5. This suction created when the wrist 'pins lpiass upwardly between the deadcenters at w ch time the greatest suction occurs as f stated above. The plunger 27 is'accordingly a 5 drawn downward against the tension'of the spring 45, and whenthe wrist pins pass over t e dead centers, at which time the force of. the suction isat a minimum, the spring 45 again expands'drawing the plunger 27 up-' pipe system and, preventing the break Zthat would otherwise occur. By the means just described, a continuous stream. of water flows without interruption, and the addis tion of the automatica 27 is one of the most important-features in:

the present invention. Incidentally, the .i-automatic plun er 27- is constructed on the f .20. same order as t e 'ump plungers 28, in that J a rovidedwit a minute opening con-f it is.

trolle by a ballivalve.

This arrangement provides afl'water seal; on; top of the plunger and any excessive; amount of waterflows'out of a drain pipe qat one side. The-rin 40 is the guide for the plunger rod 42 an also the support for I J the'spring45.- The perforations in the ring 7 permit the free passage of air during the so,

movement of the" plunger 27.

D, and control the oscillating water column in eachof the pump cylinders. The .cuttings from the bottom of the well arecarried with the fluid stream which, being confined to the drill tube is'very swift. These cut-' tings are carried into the horizontally disposed pipe system at the bottom of the pump cylinders and a short column of the cuttings portion out;

I t reverse the fluid stream to c the cutting tools. The reversal, of the parts isshown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. Whenthe pumplplungeI soperate, water is drawn out I of the hole .andforced intothe drill tube "D fromthe top.- This makes" the water boil upcout of. the bore of the well and flow back into the'hole HQ The action of the automatic plunger 27 is thought to be fully understood, it being sufficient to say that the automatic plunger acts at the time "when the .wrist jpins pass over .68 thedead centers, and creates. an auxiliary wardl acting on thewater column in the. cylin er 5, conti'nuingthe' suction in, the Y ly' operating plunger passes upwardlybetween dead centers and The o erationof [the device is as fol-- enters the pump cylindersto approxi- -m ately the level shown in Fig. 3. On the downward stroke of the plunger the major 01. the water and graveli's-forced suction in the pipe system to keep the fluid stream in continuous motion,

While the construction and arrangement of the device as hereinillustrated anddescribed is that 'of a generally preferred *form', obviouslymodifications and changes may be made without departing from the 1 spirit of the invention; or the scope of the cla ms.

' c%aiIn:--1 n a we I. dig g apparatus the combinatlonv with a drill tube, of a piimp 'cylin- 'der having'la plunger, arranged to create a suction in'the drill tube, operating means for the plunger, including a crank, and means co-act ng with the pump cylinder for contmulng the suction in the drill tube when the crank passesthe dead centers.-

. 2. In a well dig ing apparatus, the com bmat on with a dri l'tube, of a pump cylink derl, ipe'co'nnections between the cylinder I V ube'for drawing water and gravel through the drill tube, a plunger operating mthe pump' cylinder, crank and connecting devices for reciprocating the'plunger to create-the suction in .the pipe connections and tube,.. and means located in the pipe co'nnect 1on renderedready when the crank ecoming active when'the crank passes over they dead centers, to create-an'auxiliary suc-' tion 'for. the continuous flow of the water. f

3. In a well digging apparatus, the combination 'witha drill tube, of a pump cylinder, p pe connections between the cylinder and the topof the drill tube, a plunger re- .ciprocatmg in the upper end of the pump cyllnder, a crank .having operating connect1ons' with the plunger, a cylinder joinedin the pipe connectlons, and means including a plungerm sald cylmder arranged to move downwardly. when the crank passesup-.

'wardly between "the dead centers and automatically move upward when thecrank reaches the dead-centers. 4. In a well dlgging apparatus, the c'ombination witha drill tube, of a pump cylinder in connection with the drill tube, a plum ger operating nthe pump cylinder tocre- H *atezzsuctionthro hth dill b- 1. It occurs sometimes that the cutting-tools, ug e r a cylm n5 become clogged-and. it thenbecomes desire der, in connection with the drill 'tube, a plunger operating in the pump cylinder to create a suction through the drilltube, a cyhnder 1n the pump'and tubeconnection, a

"plunger in said cylinder; movable down-.

wardly, inthe cylinder under the influence of the suction, means including a spring,

ond cylinder enabling'the escape of air and water seal on top of the plunger. p

the formation of a 6. In a Well digging apparatus, an auxiliary cylinder having a funnel at the top for.

prlming, said cylinder being threaded at the base of the'funnel, a plungerlocated in the cylinder, a non-circ'ularplunger rod carried by the plunger, a perforated ring threaded into the cylinder and having a noncircular opening to receive and guide the...

of the fluid plunger rod, a collar on the plunger rod, a spring between the collar and the ring, and

a handle on the plunger rod'facilitatingthe unscrewing-of the ring and removal of the plunger. 7. In a well digging apparatus, an auxiliary cylinder having a funnel at the top for priming, said cylinder being threaded at the base of the funnel, a plunger located invthe cylinder, a non-circular fplunger rod' carried by the plungerf'a per orated ring threaded into the cylinder and havin' a noncircular opening to receive and guide the plunger rod, a collar on the plunger rod, a

spring between the collar'and the ring, a

handle on the plunger rod facilitating the unscrewing-of the ring and removal of the plunger, "and means including a minute opening controlled by a ball valve, for permittingzthe escape of alr from the cylinder and the formation of a waterseal on top of f -'-of said cylinders therewith, a suction pipe" I vthe plunger.

gular formation-of pipes, a pair of inlet and exhaust flap valves in each side, an exlines, said discharge plpe enabling the plac haust pipe on vone end, a suction pipe on the other end, va hose connection to the suction' pipe arranged to-be connected atrthe other end to a dull tube, pumpcylinders between the pairs of flap valves,.said cylinders'being open at the upper ends, a plunger in each cylinder operating nearthe open end, means permitting the escape of air through the plunger and the formation of a water seal on top, 'a drain for surplus water, walking beam and crank connections for re-' ciprocating the plungers, the water and gravel columns oscillating in the-pump cyl-' inders beneath the lplungers, an auxiliary cylinder located in t e suction pipe, and an automatically-operated plunger in the aux iliary cylinder, arranged to move downwardly when the cranks pass between the dead centers, said plunger including means comprising a spring for forcing the..plunger outwardly when the cranks pass over the jjoi edto the top of the drill tube forcree, Jating a swlftflowingi fluidstream thro" h the drilltube, an exhaust pipefor the fluid haustflu'id returning to the-well'bore n n j enabling the exchanging of the exhau t,

.drill tube. 1 v 1 0 Ina well digging apparatus, .aijpump' cylinder open at the upper end, a plunger-1;,

8. In a well digging apparatus, 'a rectan-- dead centers, to create aniauxiliary suction and keep the flow of the stream in the drill tube continuous. .66

9. In a welldig 'ng-apparatus, the com-- y bination with a. drill tube located in a well bore, means including a pipe connection-1* and cuttings lncluded in said means, thejex and pipe "connections to force theflwater, 7.5

-through the drill tube and out of the well bore, and means includingan automatically operated pluniger'for insuring the continuity ow when the'aforesaid; pi e connectlon 1s connected to the-top of. til

operating m'the' u per portion of-the um cylinder and consisting of-a ghollow bodg having a minute opening, alunger rod pivg otedto the plunger, said 'p unger being re; movable through the'o n6nd )ff thB 0y1lnder for inspection an repair, and a ball' controll ng-the minute opening, enabling the escape of air bubbles from-the inside of the cylinder and permittinga small quantity of Water to settle forma seal. r

11. In -a well digging apparatus, a pair of suction cylinders; a communicating pipe line at the base and forming" the. mounting on top of the plunger to i for said cylinders, valves'insaid pipe 1iI16-". T

at each side of the point ofcommunlcation joining the communicating pipe lines and leading to a welltube," and an accessible discharge pipe Join ng the commumcatin'g pipeing of a bucket therebeneathto receive; a quantity of the cuttings for examination.

12. In a well dlgging apparatuspa pair,

of suction cylinders, a communicating pipe line at the base and forming the'mounting for said cylinders, valves insa'id pipe line 1 1,0 1

charge pipe joining the communicating pipe lines, said discharge pipe. enabling the plac j ing of a bucket therebeneathitoj-receive a' f quantity of the cuttings for examination,":

and means including 'a' coupling. enablingj suctionpipe, to reverse the action ofthe' apparatus i iu 1 the joining .of said discharge pipe with the v [MILTON Lain 

